Personal View site logo
GH2 or GH3 for green screen?
  • Hi, I own a GH2 and a GH3, quite happy with both. I'm going to shoot videoclip on green screen. I already have some experience with GH2 and green screen, and I've already searched and followed all related discussion here on PV (and outside), but one thing I couldn't come up with a decision is basically wether using the GH2 (hacked) or the GH3. What appeals me of the GH3 is essentially the improved DR, while for the GH2 the main factor would be using a hack (Driftwood or CM Green Screen). I would not use the horrid All-I with the GH3. I'm not asking tips on green screen, I just want to know it anyone used both for this task and has some thoughts to share.

    Thank you

  • 13 Replies sorted by
  • I've used the GH3 doing GS on a feature I just wrapped. I have not seen the footage in post, however our Post Super was a shop head at ILM and have yet to hear him complain as to how the footage handles. So, I say go for it!

  • @collierlandry thanks for the tip, that's some encouraging info. I also think an advantage of the GH3 is better ISO handling. Did you remember at what ISO you shoot? I'd love to stay at 640 to keep shutter faster than 50 and minimize motion blur. Thanks again

  • I shot this for my son's project for school. It was rough, and I used no lights. I used the green screen hack and shot it in 720p mp4. Used FCPX with minor tweaks to keying effect. The camera was the GH1, but I would think it would be similar.

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_i56O3179YU&feature=plcp

  • I used Gh2 with flow motion for a few videos ....I just manually tweak the colors in the white balance adjust to shift some green out. Its still tough to pull a clean key on a 4:2:0 cam but not impossible.

  • @jspatz can definitely comment on using the GH3 with GS. I'm pretty sure he likes it better than his D800 with a ninja recorder.

  • Thanks for the tips guys! I made the shoot and have to say the GH3 performed well, I think better than the GH2. I guess the improved dynamic range (which I love from the GH3) gives you more flexibility when you set up the parameters of the key. Also the wider DOF of M4/3 was very helpful to keep more stuff in focus while maintaining exposure. I didn't need a perfect key anyway, as the style of the video is very "raw" and the shooting was wild. Will post the video here on PV as soon as it is finished (hopefully next week)

  • light your screen well and dial down the sharpening in cam and I've had great success shooting green screen with both of these cams.

  • @flablo "I would not use the horrid All-I with the GH3" =( that's a shame, it gives me results that are highly gradable, i have been working with that exclusively since i got my GH3. I would not say its bad in the least or horrid.

    I have had success with both but the GH3 was noticeably better for green screen my last production. Not to mention if you use Red Giant's "Smooth Screen" for smoothing it out before you key it then either gh2 or gh3 does a great job. I however dunno about using a wider depth of field as a general rule, if the screen is a little out of focus and your subject is sharp then that helps with keeping it a little more smooth and even back there. I guess it really depends on what you are shooting though for that to be a good thing but if your lighting isn't perfect, it helps. Here is some green screening in the video below, shot with the horrid codec and the GH3 =(. I used two pieces of green fabric not even that good in quality or anything and you can see that they are two pieces before i did any work on it in the video. None the less VERY CHEAP for a green screen and works fantastic. I must of paid like 3 dollars a yard to cover my whole wall for 30 bucks or so. Hit up a fabric store, you can save a ton on green screening. I find it doesn't have to be perfect and the GH3 still does a great job. On the GH2 you can do a great job too but if i remember right i found it was not as forgiving in post.

  • @OSGondar so you endorse the All-I mode? Mmmm, good to know, I guess I'll give it another try then. I remember my first tests, I saw some kind of horrible banding/quantization in darker areas, then I searched here on PV and I found out everyone was hating it, so basically I abandoned it. But I'll follow your suggestion and look further into it. Thanks for Red Giant tip, I installed a trial and I'm going to test it. I also got some fabric to create a base (a rotating base) for my video, and found it quite matching the green screen fabric, but it turned up being more expensive than the green screen itself. Will post the video soon

    946804_451139501638598_210050121_n.jpg
    903 x 605 - 56K
    969589_451139884971893_2138485721_n.jpg
    960 x 642 - 63K
  • @flablo I'm not so good with these forums, so I apologize for the late response. I shot at ISO 400 in QT 50mbps. That said, I see that you already did your test, so I hope you found the results to be encouraging. CL

  • All-I can be good if you're shooting a well exposed scene. I like the grain structure.

  • @collierlandry no problem and thanx for the tips. Yes, GH3 looked very good with plenty of color and room to work in post, even if the shoot wasn't "accurate". Final video is ready but can't publish it yet. Will show it here in a week